For more information, see the Open Call page: https://www.cost.eu/funding/open-call-a-simple-one-step-application-process/  

Participants are invited to submit COST Action proposals contributing to the scientific, technological, economic, cultural or societal knowledge advancement and development of Europe. Multi- and interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged.

The Open Call Action proposal submission, evaluation, selection and approval (SESA) procedure is fully science and technology-driven and will ensure a simple, transparent and competitive proposal evaluation and selection process, reflecting the bottom-up, open and inclusive principles of COST.

Participants planning to submit a proposal for a COST Action will need to refer to the SESA guidelines and to the Open Call Announcement on the Documents and Guidelines page.

COST funds interdisciplinary research networks called COST Actions. These Actions bring together researchers, innovators and other professionals including industry specialists, who are based in Europe and beyond, to collaborate on research topics for a period of 4 years. The funding a COST Action receives covers the expenses of networking activities rather than research and as such is used to organise meetings, training schools, short-term scientific missions, and other networking activities. 

Participation in COST Actions has led to significant results and follow-up in terms of the number of proposals submitted for collaborative research in Framework Programmes, with a success rate which more than triple the average success rates for these programmes (37% success rate). By funding networking, COST acts therefore as a pre-portal for further research and innovation funding such as the European Framework Programme for research and technological development.

COST Actions attract researchers and innovators from universities, as well as from public and private institutions, NGOs, industry and SMEs. COST Actions are based on the principle of inclusivity and actively promote participation from researchers and innovators based in less-research-intensive COST Member countries with a view to increasing their participation.

For updated information please consult the source pages and programme guidelines, e.g. https://www.cost.eu/how-to-apply/  https://www.cost.eu/what-do-we-fund/, https://www.cost.eu/funding/documents-guidelines/

All Western Balkans are eligible to participate in the COST Open Call. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia are COST members. Kosovo* participates as a Near Neighbour. https://www.cost.eu/about/strategy/cost-global-networking/